


You Promise?

by EternallyEC



Category: Victorious (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/F, Future Fic, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-04-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:15:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23728912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EternallyEC/pseuds/EternallyEC
Summary: Tori's world is crashing down around her, but she still makes a promise to the one responsible. Can they find a way to fix things?
Relationships: Tori Vega/Jade West
Comments: 3
Kudos: 91





	You Promise?

**Author's Note:**

> Hey hey! So, I read a conversation about this on the Jori discord a while back and for some reason, it wouldn't leave me alone tonight so I decided to write it. 
> 
> As of right now, it's a one shot. That could change, however; something about it just feels unfinished, but not this part. So there may be a companion soon, who knows? Hope you enjoy!

“Tori!” 

Sitting with her back to the bathroom door, tears streaming down her face, Tori ignores the other woman. Her gaze is focused intently on the ring in her hand as thoughts race through her brain. 

_ Stupid. You’re such an idiot to have thought that she’d say yes. Who would want to spend the rest of their life with you? Even your parents couldn’t wait to get rid of you. Have you heard a word from any of them since you told them that you were dating her?  _

Sucking in a sharp breath, Tori jumps when the woman on the other side of the door starts adding banging to the mix, shaking the door she’s leaning on enough to make her whimper. 

“Shit.” 

She rolls her eyes, trying her best not to feel bad for the guilt she hears in Jade’s tone. She’s not the one who should feel guilty in this!

“Tori, please. I’m sorry I scared you,” Jade says, her voice soft and pleading and Tori almost gives into it. She nearly turns and unlocks the door to let her in, to absolve both of them of the turmoil surrounding them… 

But then she looks at the ring again and her heart hardens once more. Clamping her hands over her ears, she tries to block out the sound of Jade’s voice, the voice that could convince her to do anything if she tried hard enough. 

But not this time, she swears to herself, slowly rocking back and forth as her tears fall harder. She doesn’t know if they’ll ever be okay, and it’s all her fault. 

_ Tori had spent hours helping her mom make Jade’s favorite foods. She’d set the table with candles and a bouquet of roses as the centerpiece, dimming the lights to add more atmosphere. She’d even put the score of The Scissoring on repeat, though she’d had to pause it after a particularly horrifying segment had caused her to jump so hard she’d broken a wine glass.  _

_ Tonight had to be perfect.  _

_ And it had been. Jade had been surprised and Tori had smiled to see all of the stress of her job as a director of the upcoming horror film she’d written herself melt away.  _

_ Dinner had gone well, ending with Jade holding Tori in her arms and both of them swaying to the haunting music. But Tori didn’t care about how scary some of the moments of the score was, not when she was in Jade’s arms. Jade was her protector and she knew she was never safer than when she was there. _

_ “I love this part,” Jade murmured, her eyes closed as she swayed, holding Tori as close to her as she could. And that was Tori’s cue.  _

_ With a deep breath, Tori reluctantly detached herself and got down on one knee, struggling a bit with her dress but getting there eventually. Jade’s eyes opened and she blinked furiously, her jaw dropping as Tori pulled the hidden ring from her cleavage, detaching it from the necklace with practiced ease. (She’d practiced for hours, really.)  _

_ Holding the ring out, Tori tried to ignore her pounding heart as she locked eyes with Jade. “Jade West, will you marry me?” she almost squeaked, noting at the last second the apprehension in those green eyes she loved so well. But why… _

_ “Tori…” Jade said softly, her eyes growing apologetic. “Tori, can we talk about this?”  _

_ And just like that, Tori could feel her heart crack. Gasping softly at the pain of it, she pressed a hand against her chest as though she could physically stop it from happening.  _

_ “Tori…” _

_ Struggling to her feet, she stared at Jade for a long moment, the silence between them feeling so tense, so alive. “It’s either a no or a yes, Jade,” she said softly, her eyes brimming with tears as she begged her with her eyes to say something.  _

_ The crack in her heart grew wider when she remained silent, and Tori couldn’t stop the strangled sob that ripped from her throat as she raced for the bathroom, her answer found in the silence after all.  _

“Tori, please, talk to me,” Jade was still begging when Tori finally opened her ears again, her arms growing too tired to keep up. “Can we please just talk about this?” 

Still, Tori ignored her. Slipping the ring onto her own left ring finger, she felt the pain in her heart increase again at the sight, at knowing that Jade didn’t want this. Didn’t want  _ her _ . 

She didn’t know how long she sat there before Jade finally went silent. She heard a slight thump on the other side of the door followed by a louder noise that she assumed was Jade letting her head hit the door, probably sitting there and planning to spend the night. 

Well. She could do whatever she wanted, Tori decided, crossing her arms and adjusting her position. At least she wasn’t talking anymore. 

“Tori please…” 

Well, famous last words, huh? 

“No,” Tori bit out, rubbing at her temples in exhaustion. “I don’t want to talk to you.” 

The silence stretches on so long that for a moment, Tori wants to snatch the words back from the air, but she knows it’s a pipe dream. Her heart is aching more than ever, knowing that Jade West to be truly hurting to stay quiet for this long without so much as a smartass comment. 

“Not ever?” Her voice is the smallest Tori’s ever heard it and for a second, just for the tiniest fraction of a second, she thinks that she can hear a sniffle coming from the other side of the door. 

But that’s impossible, she tells herself. Jade doesn’t cry unless she’s seriously hurting, she tells herself before freezing, eyeing the black diamond on her finger again. 

Just the fact that Jade is attempting to hide her tears is enough to melt Tori’s resolve enough that she sighs. “Jade, of course not forever,” she murmurs, fingers sliding under the door as much as she can manage before touching the hem of her shirt. Just managing to pinch the material between her fingers, she gives it a firm tug and she can’t help but breathe a sigh of relief when Jade’s hand comes to rest on top of them. 

“Do you promise?” she whispers, carefully stroking her fingers. And Tori doesn’t even have to see her to know the anxious, vulnerable expression that she’s wearing. And just like that, she’s in another time, another place. 

_ “Promise me that you’ll never lie to me,” Jade whispered, her arms around Tori with her back pressed to the other girl’s front.  _

_ Tori’s certain it’s the lack of eye contact that emoldens her enough to ask the question and she frowns as she thinks it over. “I can’t,” she sighed, shaking her head. “I can’t promise that I’ll never lie to you at all because I’m human, Jade. I’m going to screw up sometimes. But I can promise you that I’ll never lie about anything important that pertains to you, me, or the both of us. Can that be enough?”  _

_ There’s a long silence then, almost long enough for her to think Jade might have fallen asleep, but Tori knows better. She’s spent too many nights with Jade West and she knows every single one of her tells, including how still she suddenly is against her. Jade can’t sleep unless their positions are reversed, Tori cuddling her from behind while they drift off.  _

_ “Yeah,” she says at length, giving her a gentle squeeze. “Yeah, that’s enough.”  _

“Jade, listen to me,” she said softly. “I… I can’t do this right now, but I promise that we’ll talk. I’m not going anywhere, okay?” she swallowed, feeling Jade gently squeeze her fingers in response. “But for now, I just need some time,” she breathed, knowing that Jade wouldn’t like that. 

“Tori,  _ please _ …”

“I promised you,” she reminded her quietly, pulling her fingers back with the last of her resolve. She heard another muffled sob and hit her head on the door with a groan as her chest started to hurt even more. It was a white-hot agony now, threatening to split her open if she didn’t do something soon. 

“Okay,” Jade sighed, and Tori can hear the unmistakable sounds of her getting up. “Just… don’t go anywhere, Tori. Please? I’ll sleep in the guest room and you can have the bed. I promise I won’t come looking for you. I just…” She swallowed. “I don’t want to wake up and find you gone,” she finished, and Tori hates herself as she hears the tiny break in her voice. 

“I won’t,” she whispered, knowing that Jade heard when she hears footsteps heading away from the bathroom. 

And she doesn’t… but she also doesn’t leave the bathroom. By the time she realizes that she’s sleeping sitting up the next morning, she’s also realized that she’s still in the bathroom and that every inch of her is screaming in protest at the uncomfortable position. 

Rubbing at her eyes in confusion, she freezes when she sees the ring still on her finger and the memories of the previous night come flooding back. 

Jade had turned down her proposal. Jade didn’t want to marry her. 

_ Who’d want to marry a train wreck like you?  _

Tori groaned at the return of the stupidly annoying voice in her head. “Go ‘way,” she mumbled, her mouth feeling extremely dry and making it hard to talk. 

“How did you even know I was here?” came a quiet response, startling Tori so that she jumped and banged the top of her head on the doorknob. “Ow! Jade!” she whined, rubbing at the sore spot tenderly. 

“I thought you knew I was out here,” came the quiet response, no sound of humor in her tone at all. “I’m sorry,” she sighed. “I know I said I wouldn’t come looking for you, but then I saw that our… that the bed was empty and I got scared. Please don’t be mad at me,” she whispered, her words holding new weight to them. 

But all that Tori heard was her backtracking to call her bed ‘the bed’ and she felt tears spring to her eyes again. “Why do you care?” she asked miserably, nervously chewing on a fingernail in between sentences. “If you don’t want me, then why did you beg me not to leave last night?” 

“Tori, you can’t possibly be that much of an idiot.” 

Tori scoffed, eyebrows furrowing in anger even though Jade couldn’t see it. “Gee, thanks,” she said sarcastically, strangely comforted when she heard Jade huff on the other side of the door. 

“You know I didn’t mean it like that, Tori. How can you possibly think that I don’t want you? I  _ need  _ you.” 

“If you need me, then why don’t you want to marry me?” Tori asked, yelping when she bit the nail too far down and drew blood. She stared at the sight in fascination, poking at it and delighting in the sting of pain. 

“I’m not having this conversation between a door, Vega. Please come out here.”

She’d guess it was the please that did it. Jade rarely said please, hating the word and how weak she thought it made her sound. If Jade was saying please, then Tori knew that she meant what she was saying and it gave her the courage to stand up from the floor with weakened knees and unlock the door. 

Swinging it open, her eyes widened at the sight of Jade. She was still wearing her work clothes and her eyes were red and puffy with dried tears still on her cheeks. She was as disheveled as Tori had ever seen her with even her hair in disarray, and it took all that she had not to step forward and pull her into her arms. 

But she resisted the urge, knowing that she needed answers. She saw Jade’s eyes dart down to her left hand and she cursed as she shoved it behind her, hiding the ring from view. “Why don’t you want to marry me, Jade?” she asked again, hating herself for how her voice was trembling along with her lower lip. “Am I not good enough?” 

“Tori, if I ever was going to marry anyone in this godforsaken world, it’d be you, okay? You have to believe me,” Jade sighed, running a hand through her raven hair and grimacing when it caught in a tangle. “I don’t believe in marriage, Tori. I don’t get the need for spending a ton of money on a fancy party and a piece of paper that says we’re committed to each other when we already are.” 

Tori sucked in a deep breath, studying her carefully. “You really mean it?” she whispered, getting sucked into her beautiful blue-green eyes. “You don’t want to get married to anyone? It’s not… It’s not me?”

Jade took a step closer, pausing and glancing at Tori. When she nodded, Jade moved closer still and took one of her hands into her own. “I’d do almost anything for you, you know,” she sighs, pressing a kiss to the back of her hand. “Of course it isn’t you, Tori. And it’s not even the money because god knows we have enough of that in spades.” 

“Then what is it?” Tori asked quietly, cupping Jade’s cheek. Despite everything, she’s not feeling the anger anymore. It’s been replaced by a soft, quiet feeling of understanding, of empathy, and she can sense that Jade is about to tell her something that will explain everything, but it’s the cost of the secret that worries her. 

“My mom… isn’t my real mom,” she tells her finally, squeezing her hand again. “My biological mom was around until I was six or so and then she split. Never get married, she’d tell me whenever she did anything for me. Marriage is just a scam, if you really want someone then tell them you don’t want to marry them and see how they react. That’s how you’ll know.” 

Tori gasped, and Jade shook her head quickly. “That’s not what last night was, I promise,” she hurriedly told her. “But… can’t you see how that would fuck up someone’s view of marriage, Tori? I know that you see it as a grand commitment, but to me, we already have that. We’ve gone through so much shit to get where we are today, Tori,” she sighed. “Isn’t that enough? Can’t that be enough?” 

And as Tori watched her struggle, something shifted within her. “Jade,” she said softly, squeezing her hand until Jade met her gaze again. 

“I want to get married someday,” she told her, seeing the pain flash across her face. “But to be honest, I don’t give a shit if it’s legal or not,” she adds firmly, grinning as surprise and admiration flit across Jade’s face at her rare cursing.

“All that matters to me is that you’re there and so are the people we love. I want to show them that you’re mine and that I’m yours,” she whispered, gently wiping away a tear slowly streaking down Jade’s face with her thumb.

“If I can have that, then I truly don’t care about anything else. So what do you say, West?” she smirked, tugging the ring from her finger and showing it to her again. “Will you commit to me in a not-legally binding ceremony in front of our family and friends?” 

“That, I can do,” she smirked, letting Tori slide the ring onto her finger and immediately kissing her. 


End file.
